Things we never put on our to do list

My to-do list for today looked perfectly reasonable. Finish the assignment, reply to a few messages, organise my cupboard, and make time for the things I had been postponing all week.

By evening, I had completed most of it. Technically, it was a successful day.Yet, when I finally sat down, I realised there were several things I had wanted to do that never made it onto the list.

I wanted to call someone without having a particular reason. I wanted to sit outside and watch the sky change colours. I wanted to read a few pages of a book without checking how 

much time I had spent reading. I wanted to enjoy my tea while it was still warm instead of drinking it between two unfinished tasks.None of these things was particularly important. At least, that was what I had convinced myself.We are surprisingly good at postponing things that don’t come with deadlines.We postpone calling our friends because wewill talk to them on the weekend. We postpone watching a film because there is always something more useful to do. We save our favourite clothes for special occasions and wait for the perfect day to use the expensive notebook sitting untouched in our drawer.We even postpone enjoying our lives until everything becomes a little less complicated.

Once the exams are over. Once the project is finished. Once we have saved enough money. Once we have achieved the next thing we have been working towards.

There is always another condition.And the strange part is that most of these decisions seem sensible individually. Nobody is doing anything terribly wrong by choosing work over a film or responsibilities over a leisurely afternoon. The problem begins when postponement becomes our default way of living.We become so occupied with preparing for better days that we forget to make the ordinary ones enjoyable.

Perhaps we need a different kind of to-do list.One that includes eating our favourite food without waiting for a celebration. One that reminds us to ask someone about their day and genuinely listen to the answer. One that allows us to spend twenty minutes doing absolutely nothing without turning it into a productivity exercise.

Imagine writing, “Watch the sunset,” and treating it with the same seriousness as an appointment.Imagine deciding that reading a novel for pleasure is a perfectly acceptable use of an evening.

Imagine buying flowers simply because they look beautiful, not because somebody is visiting or because there is an occasion to celebrate.

Maybe these things won’t change our lives dramatically. They won’t necessarily make us more successful or help us achieve our biggest ambitions.

But they might make the lives we already have feel a little more enjoyable.Tonight, I think I’ll leave a few things unfinished and make myself a cup of tea. Not because I have earned a break by completing enough work, but because I would like to enjoy a quiet evening.For once, that will be the entire plan.

And perhaps tomorrow, when I write my to-do list, I’ll remember to include something that doesn’t need to be accomplished at all.

Something that simply needs to be enjoyed.